India’s third busiest airport, Kempegowda International Airport (KIAL) – also popularly referred to as BLR Airport – has further ramped-up hygiene measures to ensure maximum protection of passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Enhanced hygiene protocol includes ultraviolet (UV) treatment of security trays, with a dedicated team also manually sanitising them after every use, UV treatment of trolleys in a cordoned-off area, ultra-low volume (ULV) fogging for check-in bags and a proposal to introduce silver nano coating technology for surface disinfection.
Sanitisation of high-traffic areas and frequently touched surfaces continues to be done every 30 minutes manually without disrupting the flow of passengers. All high-traffic areas are sanitised once every three hours by using ULV machines. Washrooms across the airport premises are sanitised on a regular basis with dedicated manpower, irrespective of the frequency of use.
In addition, 456 units of tabletop hand sanitiser and 107 units of sensor-based hand sanitiser have been placed across the terminal building.
With the heightened use of personal protective equipment (PPE) there is a requirement for safe disposal of this biowaste. Masks, gloves and other PPE can, therefore, be conveniently disposed-off by passengers and staff in 120 bio-waste bins located across the BLR airport campus. The biowaste, managed by a dedicated team is handed over to a Karnataka State Pollution Control Board-approved vendor, who collects the waste for incineration.
Based on passenger feedback, BIAL has found that the contactless process has had a positive impact on passengers. The objective of the process is to enhance passenger throughput and minimise physical contact at the airport. Despite the significantly reduced passenger footfall, the contactless process has hastened the time passengers spend at various touch points during check-in.
